Reviews

The Oxford Companion to the High Court of
Australia

The Oxford Companion to the High Court of Australia is described on
its dustcover as 'a comprehensive and incisive account of the Court, from its
inception in 1903 to the present'.
I can think of no better words with which to
describe, in a single sentence, this book's contribution. The Companion
features 435 separate entries by 225 authors - including among them
eminent jurists and academics-each a specialist in their field.
Topics covered
include such unconventional gems as 'ideology', 'criticism of the Court',
'political impact of Court's decisions',
'sexual preference', 'popular
culture' and an account of the 1997 film The Castle, which told
the fictional story of a family's challenge to the interpretation of
s.51 (xxxi) (compulsory acquisition of
land) of the Constitution.

The Companion also features the more predictable accounts of important
High Court cases - among them the Communist Party case, the Bank
Nationalisation case, Mabo, Wik and the Free Speech cases.
Each is placed in its historical and, perhaps more importantly, political
context. Surpassing my expectations of a reference
book are the summaries of
different areas of law and legal scholarship. In these entries specialist
authors have met the almost
impossible task of condensing a century of
developments into concise but informative chronicles of Australian
jurisprudence.
However the entries that most caught my attention were those
that assessed the achievements of the High Court under each Chief
Justice
(see particularly: 'Dixon Court' and 'Mason Court') and the biographic
accounts of individual justices.

This last area deserves special mention because, until now, few accounts of
the personal lives of many of the jus­ tices of the
High Court have been
published. The value of such accounts is defended in the Companion as
proving helpful in assessing the extent to which values and personal convictions
might have affected the reasons for judgment of
individual justices - a subject
of enduring debate. The biographic entries certainly allow some insight into the
individuals who
have constituted the Court, and contain a few remarkable
surprises.

One such surprise is the publication of a summary of short extracts from Sir
Owen Dixon's personal diaries which span over 30 of the
35 years of his
incumbency as Justice, and later Chief Justice, of the High Court. The diaries,
apparently meticulously kept, feature
summaries of important discussions with
notable individuals such as President Roosevelt (during Dixon's appointment as
Minister Plenipotentiaryto
Washington from 1942-44) and Prime Minister Menzies
(a former pupil and longstanding friend). They also record Dixon's opinions
of
other justices, revealing significant rifts in the personal relations of members
of the Court. One candid revelation involves
Dixon's apparent professional
disdain for justices who had formerly been active politicians – Latham
seems to have suffered
Dixon's contempt on account of his being driven by
considerations of public policy and his 'habitual bias for the government'
(p.223).

The quality of the Companion's entries is consistently high,
somethingwhich doubtless owes as much to thebook's editors as to
the authors whohave contributed subject texts. Anotherformidable
achievement of the editors(and research assistants) is the
comprehensiveindexing, which not onlycross-references in bold
type the first occurrence of words which themselvesare the subject of
entries, but also provideseasily accessible index lists ofsubjects, cases and identities. Onedownfall of the Companion
is thatdirect quotes, while acknowledged byquotation marks,
are not always referenced. In most cases some indication of the source may be
given in the 'further reading' section
that concludes the entry, but sometimes
quotes are left without attribution, rendering the Companion arguably
less valuable as a reference tool. I hope that future additions revisit and
update the bibliographical information accompanying
the entries to enhance the
Companion s usefulness as an authoritative resource.

The Companion will be widely used by students and professionals alike
as a first port of call for a wide variety of information about the High
Court in historical context. I have no doubt that it will enjoy a deservedly
long life with numerous editions (I expect the second
edition will coincide
with the High Court's centenary to be celebrated in late 2003). The
price, at $150, may appear
a little steep in the abstract, but once you
sample its intellectual offerings the money outlaid will quickly be forgotten.
It
has already become, for me, an invaluable quick-reference tool. I commend
the Companion, beyond its anticipated legal audience, to all who may be
interested in the High Court as an institution and the individuals who have
constituted or have been other­ wise notably connected to it, as well as
those simply interested in expanding their knowledge
of Australian history.

TATUM HANDS

Tatum Hands is a PhD candidate in the Department of Political
Science at the University of Western Australia.